India's Supreme Court strikes down 157-year-old ban on gay sex

India&#039;s Supreme Court struck down gay-sex ban — (Image credit: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday, India's Supreme Court ruled that a 157-year-old law that criminalized gay sex "is irrational, arbitrary, and manifestly unconstitutional," as Chief Justice Dipak Misra said in reading the opinion. The colonial-era law, known as section 377, made certain "unnatural offenses," like "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal," punishable by up to 10 years in jail. It technically banned all anal and oral sex, BBC News reports, but it was used primarily against same-sex couples. The Delhi high court struck the law down in 2009, but the Supreme Court reinstated it four years later.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.